According to the present invention, a locking apparatus has a striker mounted on one side of the trunk lid and has a latch member mounted on the corresponding side of the vehicle body, so as to save the space for attachment. At the same time, a locking apparatus has the striker and a locking plate engage respectively with both sides of the latch member pivotally mounted, in order to divide a locking reaction.
In the well known prior art similar to this invention, it has been a practice that a latch member is fixed to a trunk lid, while a striker being fixed to a vehicle body directly. Not only does this way of attachment cause, as everyone skilled in the art admits, a great damage to the trunk lid as a result of strength applied onto the striker being transferred to the trunk lid, but also it is impossible to release the latch from the inside of the vehicle. The prior art device, moreover, occupies too much space for attachment in relation to the other parts of the vehicle.